


A Softer Place to Land

by Thistlerose



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Study, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Crushes, F/F, Female Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Post-Series, Shippy Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 20:52:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3461612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ty Lee doesn't regret turning against Azula, but she's still a little bit sad and uncertain about her future with the Kyoshi warriors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Softer Place to Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ambyr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambyr/gifts).



It's not that it never occurred to Ty Lee that maybe Azula didn't care for her as much as she cared for Azula. Of course it did; Ty Lee might come across as a bit of a feather-brain sometimes, but she wasn't stupid, and even if she were, Azula was never exactly subtle. Still, Azula had needed her, even if she never admitted it. And Ty Lee - one of seven identical sisters who were often treated as interchangeable by their parents - latched onto that need. Until Mai's need for Ty Lee came in conflict with Azula's, and then she'd had to make a choice.

Ty Lee didn't regret her choice, but thinking about Azula - locked away in Fire Lord Zuko's prison - made her unhappy. Beautiful, clever Azula who, for all her bad qualities, still sometimes stood up for Ty Lee when people were cruel to her. That Azula's imprisonment was comfortable - or as comfortable as Zuko could make it without allowing her any means of escape - helped, but not a whole lot.

Mai never seemed to want to talk about it. These days Mai seemed far too busy being the Fire Lord's girlfriend, which mostly involved - as far as Ty Lee could tell - ordering Zuko and his servants around, and maybe doing some diplomatic work. ("Diplomacy?" Ty Lee had asked her once, wide-eyed. She couldn't quite picture it. "I tell the truth," Mai had responded with a shrug. Ty Lee didn't think that Mai's definition of diplomacy was the same as the one they'd learned about back in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, but she didn't like to argue.)

The other Kyoshi Warriors didn't want to listen to her talk about it, of course. Why would they? She'd befriended them at Boiling Rock (there'd been little else to do while they all waited for the Avatar to take down Fire Lord Ozai, and anyway, Ty Lee couldn't help being friendly, even toward former enemies). And they'd let her join their ranks after they'd all been freed. But she'd caught a few wary glances, and she supposed that most of them were still having trouble forgetting the fact that they'd only ended up on Boiling Rock because of Ty Lee, Mai, and Azula.

Suki was the exception. Which was odd, Ty Lee supposed, since Suki had escaped from Boiling Rock just as she and Mai were taken prisoner. In fact, Ty Lee had been in the middle of trying to _keep_ Suki from escaping right about the moment Mai decided to turn on Azula. But despite all of that, the first time Ty Lee had a quiet moment with Suki, she was instantly struck by the other girl's aura. It was the cool green of mint leaves, and it made her want to stand very still, with her eyes closed, and just … not do anything else, except breathe slowly and deeply. 

Though she was reluctant to admit it, even to herself, her reaction to Suki's aura was more or less the opposite of her reaction to Azula's.

She tried not to be too obvious, but every time she looked at Suki over the rim of her teacup, she felt her cheeks warming up. Occasionally their eyes met and Suki smiled, her lips bending in a pretty little bow. Her smile wasn't a promise, but it was … something to grasp at. And in the weeks and months that followed, as Ty Lee trained with the other Kyoshi Warriors, she felt the warmth of that smile, sometimes in her belly, sometimes in other parts. And when Suki talked to her - or let her talk, prattling on about what it was like to go from her family to the Academy to the circus to this, in a breathless manner that would have had Azula and even Mai rolling their eyes - it was like flying through the air under a serene blue sky, with a safety net below.


End file.
